Honestly, I actually... don't think about post war Harry that often, for some reason. I thought about him a lot back when I was reading Drarry fic constantly (and before my reread, before I even really knew canon Harry), but for some reason I now just think about him in either canon timeline or in my Bring Back Black/settle our bones timeline.
I feel like I gave my major unpopular opinions about him here - regarding post war specifically I mentioned how I don't know why people who aren't pro DADA teacher Harry are pro Auror Harry. Those aren't the only two options, both are bad (I have another ask in my drafts about DADA teacher Harry where I'll expand a bit). I feel like my other opinions aren't really very unpopular - we all know he's A Depressed Fucking Mess post war, etc.
Oh, I guess re: the epilogue, completely disagree that it not addressing trauma being one of its issues. Absolutely agree it doesn't address the systemic and structural issues in the wizarding world and reinforces them instead, which is a problem with the whole series for the most part (or, like, it introduces these structural issues intentionally but ultimately doesn't do anything meaningful with them) but I don't think "doesn't address trauma" is really a problem. It's been nineteen years, it's a very short scene, it doesn't have to mention Harry's trauma when the whole series deals with it perfectly well. It reminds me of the all the takes that the series overall also doesn't address Harry's trauma, which is one of the most absurd takes about him, when this whole series is literally ABOUT abuse and trauma.
Also! Naming his child Albus Severus. Because I feel like these days I actually see more people attempt to defend and justify it than criticize it, naming "nuance" and "themes of forgiveness" and "Harry being able to see people are complex and aren't just good or bad", etc. For one, people do realize that there were more ways for Harry to honor Snape as a war hero than to literally fucking name his kid after him? Like giving him an Order of Merlin, naming a spell or other famous piece of magic after him, placing a statue of him somewhere to echo James Lily and Harry's statue in Godric's Hollow, something like that, all of which could've easily been mentioned in the epilogue somehow. Like, I hate Snape and his terrible nonexistent redemption too much to even want that, honestly, but it would've been far better and make more sense than Albus Severus! It's a slap in the face to Harry and how Snape treated him, and, frankly, it's also a slap in the face to Lily. The child with Lily's green eyes (obviously intentional there) being named after the man who called her a mudblood, betrayed her, got her killed, then saw her as an object to be possessed, as evidenced by how he treated her son due to jealousy? Fuck that.
Do you all think Hermione had friends before Hogwarts?
I personally think she did not have any friends friends because she always seemed very desperate at making friends when she came to Hogwarts. Which is something i (a friendless person) always did, whenever i went to a new school or a place with new people i immediately tried to make friends because I thought, that as no one knows me here so it was a "fresh" start and hindsight I also seemed very desperate as i used to overcompensate by helping others a LOT and being all very talkative. And on the Hogwarts Express, we see Hermione helping Neville and she was also very talkative.
And during the charms class she overstepped by helpeing Ron, though that came as more condescending, but my girl did that in good faith because "friends help eachother"
I think Hermione's overall period at Hogwarts was also quite lonely because she was not very friendly with Parvati and Lavender, her dormates, and the girls in her year.
Her only friends were Harry and Ron, and though she was close to them, but yk what they say "every trio has a duo" and i think Harry and Ron were that duo. They spent more time together than with Hermione — in dorms, quidditch, divination and iirc they also partnered together in other classes too, except when they had a row which was in GoF, but it was only for like, 20 days(?) at max. I'm sure someone had calculated that time period. But my boy Harry behaved like he has lost his long time lover (which was true lol) and walked like a damsel.
Whereas when Hermione had a row with the boys in PoA, it went for months. And I'm sure Hermione had no one of her age to talk to in that period.
Ginny had her own friends, as she was very popular, and quidditch, so I'm sure Hermione and Ginny talked but not much.
I'm also really curious about what Hermione talked to Krum about in her long letters.
I find her character really interesting. She's the only main protagonist in the series, about whom we know the least about. Like who gave her Hogwarts letter? How did she react? What was her canon relationship with her parents? How did her parents felt about everything?
Though there are many explanations for the questions like this on internet, but it was all interpreted from the little refrences Hermione made about her family life, we do not get something very explicit from her. Which was fine because it would have been a little irrelevant, because ofc Ron's family is much more important to the plot, but still.
She is a brilliant character, because she was nerdy, had no girlfriends, did not look conventionally beautiful or had any "glow up" as she turned 16. Neither she tried to change for a boy's attention. Some people in fandom say Hermione was bossy and an insufferable know-it-all, but some people alsohate when women are know-it-alls...
I loved how she never backed down, even when people called her slurs, even when people told her that no one likes a know-it-all — We love female characters with a strong personality that's not changed by anybody's influence! These characters are so rare in today's media as girls are shown as "pick mes"
Hermione Granger taught me that getting good grades is cool and badass!
She was an amazing friend and had a shit ton of character growth, in just the first book itself!!
The fandom seems to really love them, but I personally don't like them. While I recognize that they've helped Harry and kids under terrible (downright evil) administration and whatever, I also think they're pretty cruel and disgusting.
Their "pranks" and "jokes" seem to go too far, and they literally sell love potions, which are banned at Hogwarts, and disguise them as other things like perfume, so they can sneak them to students to take advantage of other students.
They're so weird and gross to me that I can't understand people's obsession with them, though this is probably because I have such a huge hatred for love potions that anyone who actively uses them or advertises them as something good I automatically take a dislike to.
Honestly, I think so many of the characters (especially the men) have many dislikable traits, and it's because the Wizarding World in general just doesn't take anything that's actually serious as serious and brushes past it like it's totally normal and okay (like with abuse; specially against women).
My opinion of them is mostly “I don’t think about them”, lol. You're probably right about them being cruel and taking things too far! I'm not that bothered by it bc I just... don't care or think about them enough. Iirc they also harass Ginny about her dating life (though they're not as terrible about it as Ron, as far as we see). Are they popular in fandom? I feel like they're more popular amongst casual fans than fandom, but idk.
Oh the one thought I do have about them is that their dynamic with Percy is like, easily the most interesting Weasley dynamic, which is not to say that it's that interesting, but I've always thought that the Weasley siblings would be massively improved as characters if any of them seemed to care about each other half as much as they cared about Harry, lol, at least in ways that weren't super generic (The twins vs. Percy is good specifically because it has both major conflict and affection). Sibling dynamics are my favorite and good platonic relationships in general do A Lot to establish and develop characterization - like, look at the Black cousins/siblings! - but I feel like JKR was way more interested in making the Weasleys Harry's Replacement Siblings than siblings to each other.
I'm kind of the opposite regarding love potions. In that, I pretend they don't exist, particularly when considering characterization. These days I am generally for reading things as in universe as possible, but with love potions it's just impossible. Like, yeah the wizarding world has no concept of consent and abuse is rampant and extreme (i.e. the Gaunts), and it's not like rape is taken seriously enough in the real world either - but with love potions, many characters who ostensibly should be entirely against them are totally okay with them (i.e. Hermione), which is just impossible to reconcile. (The way house elves are written is a similar conundrum, but with house elves, at least you have maybe like, three, characters who are against slavery! That's still more than the amount who denounce love potions!)
Something that just struck me hard - in part thanks to a very clever fic I just read - is that Harry just being adopted by someone who loves him straight from the Dursleys is neigh impossible with their cooperation, and I can't believe this hasn't been more obvious to me before.
Like, look at their behavior in the books!! One would think that they'd be desperate to get him out of the house, just based on how much they hate him and associating with magic, but that is very much not the case!! Like with them trying to send him to Stonewall High instead of Hogwarts, sure that could be them trying to prevent one more wizard from being in the world by preventing said wizard from getting a magical education, but after that?? The cats outta the bag guys he's a wizard! So why tf are they constantly resisting his attempts to leave?
Like, book two, they lock him in his room with the words 'you are never going to that school again', which is already crazy but ok maybe the same principle even though it technically gets him out of their hair for ten months of the year, but then - and here's the kicker - when the Weasleys come to grab him they try to stop the attempt and go so far as try to physically prevent him from leaving!! Like him being somewhere else for the summer isn't just a different solution to their problem!! The thought to say he's gone, good riddance, doesn't cross their minds until after theres absolutely nothing left they can do to keep him from going!!
Same in book three, although much weaker: Harry tries to leave with all of his shit, very clearly not intending to come back, and they don't say GTFO, they say where do you think you're going?? (Altho tbf, I'm not sure they realized that ministry of magic officials would be coming to fix Marge).
Same in book four, the Dursleys genuinely contemplate not letting Harry stay with the Weasleys for the rest of the summer, like it doesn't get him off their hands! Harry decides that its because they don't want him to be happy, but I think it's more complicated than that.
In book five Harry gets kidnapped by the Order after the Dursleys were brought to the end of their rope and they give up lol.
So what is it that they want then? Bc it's not to have Harry be part of the family.
I think, in the Dursleys' ideal world, Harry would have been practically non-existent, BUT Securely In Their Home often enough that they most definitely know for a fact that his blood wards are protecting them, 100%. Like, that's gotta be the only reason they took him in, right? To act like an anti-other-wizard talisman?
I have to believe that in the letter, Dumbledore told Petunia (and then Petunia communicated something along the same lines to Vernon) that they WERE going to be a target if Voldemort ever came back. Now, whether or not that's true - and personally I think it only became true because they became The Family That Housed Harry Potter, ironically enough lol - the Dursleys must have thought that someone was going to come for them regardless, so it was better to have a blood protection possible-wizard orphan boy than not.
Which means then, by extension, that if anyone ever actually offered to take him off their hands, for good, they would throw a SHIT FIT.
(This also makes sense for Vernon's freak out in book five. They had the protective talisman orphan this whole time and wizard bullshit STILL attacked his son?? Alrighty!! Deal is off!! Get the fuck out of my house because it's clear you were actually useless and we've been duped!!)
Who were students at Hogwarts alongside the Marauders?
This is a question I used to see quite a lot, and it's an interesting problem to try to tackle, because the answer is that lots of people could have overlapped, some probably did, and some we know definitely did. Equally, there were lots of people that probably didn’t, but are treated as given characters in Marauders fics. Which is fine, of course, but this post will focus exclusively on canon*, and not fanon.
*I will include extended canon in terms of Pottermore and WOM (Wizard of the Month), but I won't include Hogwarts Mystery, or any other video games. I will also not be including the movies (ie no Emma Vanity nor the Talkalots and Laughalots). I hate the movies, so sorry, not sorry.
Currently, this is just a brain dump, and might be missing candidates and arguments. But this is what I’ve got so far.
The core crew and their birthdays
There’s really no need to go into who the Marauders, Lily and Severus were, but listing them here for reference:
Sirius Black—3 Nov 1959
Severus Snape—9 Jan 1960
Lily Evans—30 Jan 1960
Remus Lupin—10 Mar 1960
James Potter—27 Mar 1960
Peter Pettigrew—Unknown except year: 1959/1960
Students we know were at Hogwarts between 1971-1978
Either in the Marauders’ year, or might very well have been in the Marauders’ year:
Stebbins (b. 1 Sep 1959-31 Aug 1960)
Present in the same O.W.L. exam scene as the marauders, Lily and Snape.
“Quills down, please!” squeaked Professor Flitwick. “That means you too, Stebbins! Please remain seated while I collect your parchment! Accio!”
Likely a relation of Stebbins who attended the Yuleball in 1994:
“Ten points from Ravenclaw, Fawcett!” Snape snarled as a girl ran past him. “And ten points from Hufflepuff too, Stebbins!” as a boy went rushing after her.
Tilden Toots (b. 1959)
Tilden Toots was a wizard with “three green thumbs” who hosted a Wizarding Wireless radio show on Herbology. He was married to the author Daisy Hookum
Here is a transcript of the ‘wireless’ radio program [Rowling's original website JKR.com: Toots, Shoots and Roots]:
Hello and welcome back to “Toots, Shoots ‘n’ Roots” with me, Tilden Toots.
Mrs. Georgina Smyth of Nettlebed in Oxfordshire has sent an owl with an all too common problem.
Dear Tilden,
I’ve not watered my Flitterbloom for several months and now when I need to use it in a potion I find it’s died. I’ve threatened it with a number of curses but it refuses to revive. What would you recommend?
Well Georgina, a combination of my famous Rejuicing and Regerminating potions ought to do the trick. Six drops of the red Rejuicer followed by three drops of the green Regerminator will be the breath of life to a plant beyond the reach of blackmail.
Unfortunately, that’s all we have time for today. But, be sure to tune in next time when we’ll be discussing the right way to skin a Gurdyroot and what to do if muggles hear your Honking Daffodils. Until next time, that’s Tootle-oo from Toots!
Gaspard Shingleton (b. 1959)
Gaspard Shingleton was the celebrated inventor of the Self-Stirring Cauldron.
Greta Catchlove (b. 1960)
Was a witch who wrote the original edition of Charm Your Own Cheese
Students we know weren’t in the Marauders year, but were at school with them
Regulus Black (b. 1961)
Sirius’s younger brother. Attended Hogwarts from 1972/73–1979/80. Was sorted into Slytherin. Turned Death Eater before he had a change of heart.
Sirius jabbed a finger at the very bottom of the tree, at the name REGULUS BLACK. A date of death (some fifteen years previously) followed the date of birth.
(...)
“Yeah,” said Sirius. “Stupid idiot ... he joined the Death Eaters.”
(...)
“and when he was sixteen years old, Master Regulus joined the Dark Lord. So proud, so proud, so happy to serve ..."
The change of heart was born from not being prepared for the realities of being a Death Eater, and the fact that Voldemort was prepared to kill Kreacher
Hayleyhaha: Why did Regulus have a change of heart?
J. K. Rowling: He was not prepared for the reality of life as a Death Eater. It was Voldemort's attempted murder of Kreacher that really turned him..
Bertha Jorkins (likely b. ca 1955-57)
Bertha Jorkins is described to be a few years above James and Sirius. Sirius doesn’t use the term “a couple of years”, so I think it’s safe to assume she’s about 3-4 years older than them.
“Listen, I knew Bertha Jorkins,” said Sirius grimly. “She was at Hogwarts when I was, a few years above your dad and me. And she was an idiot. Very nosy, but no brains, none at all. It’s not a good combination, Harry. I’d say she’d be very easy to lure into a trap.
(…)
Instantly, a figure rose out of it, a plump, scowling girl of about sixteen, who began to revolve slowly, with her feet still in the basin. She took no notice whatsoever of Harry or Professor Dumbledore. When she spoke, her voice echoed as Snape’s had done, as though it were coming from the depths of the stone basin. “He put a hex on me, Professor Dumbledore, and I was only teasing him, sir. I only said I’d seen him kissing Florence behind the greenhouses last Thursday. ...”
“But why, Bertha,” said Dumbledore sadly, looking up at the now silently revolving girl, “why did you have to follow him in the first place?”
Sturgis Podmore (between Sep 1956 and Sep 1957)
Sturgis is the only Order of the Phoenix member we know went to school with the Marauders, Lily and Snape, and I will fight for his inclusion in more fics. He’s likely to be in the class of 1968–1975 (unless he’s born on September 2nd or something).
It was headlined: Sturgis Podmore, 38, of number two, Laburnum Gardens, Clapham, has appeared in front of the Wizengamot charged with trespass and attempted robbery at the Ministry of Magic on 31st August.
Lucius Malfoy (Between Sep 1953 and Sep 1954)
Father of Draco Malfoy and Death Eater in both the first and second war. He’s 41 in September 1995:
“‘I feel much easier in my mind now that I know that Dumbledore is being subjected to fair and objective evaluation,’ said Mr. Lucius Malfoy, 41, speaking from his Wiltshire mansion last night.
And we catch a glimpse of him when Snape and Lily start Hogwarts:
And Severus Snape moved off to the other side of the Hall, away from Lily, to where the Slytherins were cheering him, to where Lucius Malfoy, a prefect badge gleaming upon his chest, patted Snape on the back as he sat down beside him
Narcissa Black (1955)
Mother of Draco Malfoy; youngest sister of Bellatrix and Andromeda. We have her year of birth from the Black family tree, as drawn up by JKR. While often portrayed as a prefect in fanfiction, we do not know anything about her years at Hogwarts, other than her being a Slytherin:
“My whole family have been in Slytherin,” [Sirius] said.
Mulciber (likely around 1957-1962)
Mulciber is one of the many future Death Eaters Snape hangs around, and one of two Lily focuses on in their fifth year:
“We are, Sev, but I don’t like some of the people you’re hanging round with! I’m sorry, but I detest Avery and Mulciber! Mulciber, What do you see in him, Sev, he’s creepy! D’you know what he tried to do to Mary Macdonald the other day?”
Mulciber might be known for the use of the imperious curse, and for the murder of the McKinnons.
“Yes!” said Karkaroff. “There was Travers — he helped murder the McKinnons! Mulciber — he specialized in the Imperius Curse, forced countless people to do horrific things!
We don’t know if it’s him or his older relation who was at the Hogshead waiting for Voldemort to return from his meeting with Dumbledore.
“Then if I were to go to the Hog’s Head tonight, I would not find a group of them — Nott, Rosier, Mulciber, Dolohov — awaiting your return? Devoted friends indeed, to travel this far with you on a snowy night, merely to wish you luck as you attempted to secure a teaching post.”
Though we don't know how old he is, he is unlikely to be in his earliest years when he attacks Mary Macdonald. Most likely, he’s around Severus’ age. However, it is interesting that Lily and Severus are arguing about Mulciber and Avery in their fifth year, in a way that makes it sound like it's not something that's come up a lot before. It is possible that Mulciber and Avery are a year older or younger than him, and it's someone he's recently started hanging out with. Or, in fact, that they're in the same year but still only recently started to hang out with them.
The earliest he can be born, given he’s at school in 1975-76 is 1957.
Avery (likely around 1957-1962)
I’m going to put Avery around the same age bracket as Mulciber, for the same reason.
Barty Crouch (likely b. ca 1963-1965)
Barty Crouch Jr was brought to Azkaban at the age of about 18-19 (no more than nineteen)
“That’s right,” said Sirius, and he didn’t look remotely amused now. “I saw the dementors bringing him in, watched them through the bars in my cell door. He can’t have been more than nineteen. They took him into a cell near mine.”
As elaborated on in this meta, the arrest and trial took place some time between 1982-1984, meaning Barty Crouch Jr was likely born between 1963 and 1965.
Florence (likely b. ca 1955-1957)
Assuming Bertha is three to four years older than the Marauders, Snape and Lily, and she’s sixteen in that memory, we can assume Florence was caught kissing someone between 1971-1973. She might have been the Marauders’ age but it seems very unlikely given the kissing (and especially considering the boy was able to hex Bertha, who—though stupid—is 16 at this point.) It’s far more probable she was a few years above the boys, just like Bertha. It’s also noticeable Bertha uses Florence’s first name, suggesting they know each other, which again supports they’re about the same age.
“He put a hex on me, Professor Dumbledore, and I was only teasing him, sir. I only said I’d seen him kissing Florence behind the greenhouses last Thursday. ...”
Gilderoy Lockhart (26 January 1964)
We know quite a bit about this most charming (or not) DADA teacher from Pottermore (including this archived web version).
Born to a witch mother and a Muggle father, with two older sisters, Gilderoy Lockhart was the only one of his parents’ three children to show magical ability.
There’s a lot of background on Gilderoy and his time at school, which I suggest you read on the website, including these highlights:
He lobbied the Headmaster to start a school newsletter, because he liked nothing better than to see his name and photograph in print.
Never very popular, he nevertheless achieved his primary goal of school-wide recognition through repeated, attention-getting exploits. He received a week’s worth of detentions for magically carving his signature in twenty-foot-long letters into the Quidditch pitch. He managed to create a massive, illuminated projection of his own face, which he would send skywards in imitation of the Dark Mark. He sent himself eight hundred Valentine’s cards one year, which caused such a pile-up of owls in the Great Hall that breakfast had to be abandoned (far too many feathers and droppings in the porridge).
Dirk Cresswell (between Sep 1960- Aug1961)
Dirk was a muggleborn student in the year below Lily who became head of the Goblin Liaison Office.
Slughorn looked down at him in surprise. “You mustn’t think I’m prejudiced!” he said. “No, no, no! Haven’t I just said your mother was one of my all-time favorite students? And there was Dirk Cresswell in the year after her too — now Head of the Goblin Liaison Office, of course — another Muggle-born, a very gifted student, and still gives me excellent inside information on the goings-on at Gringotts!”
Daisy Hookum (1962)
Daisy Hookum wrote bestseller My Life as a Muggle after giving up magic for a year. She was married to celebrity gardener Tilden Toots.
Tarquin McTavish (1955)
Tarquin McTavish was a wizard who imprisoned his Muggle neighbour inside a tea kettle. He was sent to prison for this act.
If you want an older Slytherin antagonist, he’s definitely one to consider.
Lorcan d'Eath (1964)
Lorcan d’Eath is a very popular part-vampire singer whose song “Necks to You” spent nineteen weeks in the Number 1 slot.
Glenda Chittock (1964)
Glenda Chittock is a popular presenter of the W.W.N. (Wizarding Wireless Network) program Witching Hour.
Students we don’t know (even the approximate) the age of, but we know were at school with them
Davey Gudgeon
Davey Gudgeon was a student at Hogwarts at some point from or after 1971, who overlapped with the Marauders, Lily and Severus.
“They planted the Whomping Willow the same year that I arrived at Hogwarts. People used to play a game, trying to get near enough to touch the trunk. In the end, a boy called Davey Gudgeon nearly lost an eye, and we were forbidden to go near it. No broomstick would have a chance.
Mary MacDonald
Mary MacDonald was a Gryffindor student at Hogwarts in 1975-1976, but she could have been anything from a first year to a seventh year. Because she was targeted by a future Death Eater, it’s assumed she’s muggleborn (it’s also a fairly common last-name that don’t otherwise appear in canon), but this is never confirmed.
“We are, Sev, but I don’t like some of the people you’re hanging round with! I’m sorry, but I detest Avery and Mulciber! Mulciber, What do you see in him, Sev, he’s creepy! D’you know what he tried to do to Mary Macdonald the other day?”
Bertram Aubrey
Bertram Aubery overlapped with the Marauders, Lily and Snape at school, and James Potter and Sirius Black landed in detention for having used an illegal hex upon him. While I think it’s safe to assume James and Sirius might not have been in their earliest years of their magical education, we’ve got no further information about how old Aubrey was, or how old the boys were. Or anything else, really.
He pulled out a card from one of the topmost boxes with a flourish and read, “ ‘James Potter and Sirius Black. Apprehended using an illegal hex upon Bertram Aubrey. Aubrey’s head twice normal size. Double detention.’ ” Snape sneered.
Wilkes & Rosier Jr
Wilkes and Rosier Jr* are part of the group we’re told hung out with Severus at school, meaning it’s very likely** they went to school with the Marauders.
“Rosier and Wilkes — they were both killed by Aurors the year before Voldemort fell. The Lestranges — they’re a married couple — they’re in Azkaban. Avery — from what I’ve heard he wormed his way out of trouble by saying he’d been acting under the Imperius Curse — he’s still at large. But as far as I know, Snape was never even accused of being a Death Eater — not that that means much. Plenty of them were never caught. And Snape’s certainly clever and cunning enough to keep himself out of trouble.
*Rosier Jr should not be confused with Evan Rosier, who was killed after July 1981 (likely after Voldemort’s fall as part of the round up of capturing the Death Eaters), who we learn about in The Pensieve chapter in GOF.
**I’ve got to caveat that it’s possible they didn’t go to school together, because Sirius also highlights Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange. Bellatrix, at least, had graduated by the time Snape started school. However, without any other information, it’s fairly safe to assume Snape went to school with Avery and Wilkes.
Students that might have been at Hogwarts between 1971-1978
There needs to be some canon evidence for them to be considered here. Otherwise we’d end up with a very long list indeed.
Andromeda Black (b. between 1952-1954)
As the middle child, she’s born between Bellatrix (1951) and Narcissa (1955), and might have overlapped with the Marauders, but only if she was born late enough (September 1953 or later). Her daughter was born between 1 September 1972 and 31 August 1973, which is worth factoring in when considering how old Andromeda is for any given fic.
Rabastan Lestrange & Rodolphus Lestrange
We don’t actually know (I don’t think) when Rabastan and Rodolphus Lestrange were born. It’s noticeable that Sirius didn’t bring up Rabastan when listing the DEs Snape hung out with. Maybe Rabastan never attended Hogwarts? Maybe he’s even older than Rodolphus? Maybe Rodolphus is younger than Bellatrix and overlapped with the Marauders at school? Maybe Sirius confused Rabastan and Rodolphus when talking to the trio? Or any other guess, really.
Kingsley Shacklebolt
Kingsley Shacklebolt may have overlapped with the Marauders. He was not part of the first order, but he recognised a lot of James in Harry, suggesting he knew James. Considering James had very little time between school and Order and going into hiding with Harry and Lily, many take this to believe he went to school with the boys.
“Yeah, I see what you mean, Remus,” said a bald black wizard standing farthest back; he had a deep, slow voice and wore a single gold hoop in his ear. “He looks exactly like James.”
Quirinus Quirrell
While it is possible to take Quirrell statement as an argument that he wasn’t at school with James and Snape (“He was at Hogwarts with your father”, not “we”), there’s no reason for Quirrell to put himself into that dialogue. The point is that Snape and James were at Hogwarts together, and hated one another. How did Quirrell know this? Possibly Hogwarts gossip. But possibly he observed it for himself.
“Oh, he does,” said Quirrell casually, “heavens, yes. He was at Hogwarts with your father, didn’t you know? They loathed each other. But he never wanted you dead.”
Furthermore, we know he used to work at Hogwarts, then he took a year off to gain practical experience (suggesting he went straight from being a student to becoming a professor), before coming back as a DADA teacher.
At this stage it turns into speculation, but it seems unlikely he would have worked less than three years at Hogwarts before taking a year off, and it feels equally unlikely he would have waited more than ten years. If he worked for six years or more before taking a year off, he would have overlapped with the marauders. (If we worked for six years before taking the sabbatical, he would have graduated in 1984, meaning he would have started in 1977, and would have overlapped by a year with the Marauders)
Fabian and Gideon Prewett
Molly Weasley is born in October 1949. If her brothers were younger than her, they could have overlapped with the Marauders, Snape and Lily.
For either or both of them to overlap with the Marauders, they would have to graduate from Hogwarts at the earliest in 1972, which would put either or both of their birthdays between Sep 1953 - Aug 1954, or later.
In other words, if either of her brothers, or both, were roughly four years younger, or more, they would have overlapped with the Marauders, Snape and Lily.
Note: Nowhere in canon is it suggested that Fabian and Gideon are twins. They might have been. But it's just a theory.
Alice and Frank Longbottom
Frank and Alice have a son Harry’s age, but unlike Lily and James, they worked as Aurors and were well respected:
“They were Aurors, you know, and very well respected within the Wizarding community,” Mrs. Longbottom went on. “Highly gifted, the pair of them. I — yes, Alice dear, what is it?”
Now, it’s possible that some of this respect came about after Voldemort’s fall, as per my meta that explains why they were likely attacked between 1982-early 1984, but likely they were active as Aurors for some years before they decided to have a baby. For the sake of the argument, let’s put two years as qualified Aurors as the minimum number of years before Alice gets pregnant, late 1979. That puts her and Frank at graduating Auror training in 1977 at the latest (and of course it’s possible either or both did it much earlier than this). Assuming the standard three years of Auror training, that means the latest they could have graduated Hogwarts is 1974.
“Well, you’ll need to demonstrate the ability to react well to pressure and so forth,” said Professor McGonagall, “perseverance and dedication, because Auror training takes a further three years, not to mention very high skills in practical defense. It will mean a lot more study even after you’ve left school, so unless you’re prepared to — ”
Which puts them in the window of possibly overlapping with the Marauders.
It's also worth noting that it is possible that the Auror training was cut either entirely or at least partially because of the war, which could put them closer in age with the Marauders. But then again, it's also absolutely possible (if not probable) that they were a fair deal older than the boys and Lily.
Gwenog Jones
I am going to ignore the Hogwarts Mystery stuff, but we know she was a favourite of Slughorn, and we know she is still active as the Captain of the Holyhead Harpies in 1996, suggesting she overlapped with Slughorn's final few years, which possibly puts her in the window together with the Marauders.
“All ex-students, all signed. You’ll notice Barnabas Cuffe, editor of the Daily Prophet, he’s always interested to hear my take on the day’s news. And Ambrosius Flume, of Honeydukes — a hamper every birthday, and all because I was able to give him an introduction to Ciceron Harkiss, who gave him his first job! And at the back — you’ll see her if you just crane your neck — that’s Gwenog Jones, who of course captains the Holyhead Harpies. … People are always astonished to hear I’m on first-name terms with the Harpies, and free tickets whenever I want them!”
Do you think Harry had negative/false thoughts about Ginny while wearing the locket like Ron did with his insecurity about Hermione preferring Harry?
I think this is such an interesting question, because I think the answer is no?
You can see that Ron's got the worst of it because I think he's lived quite comfortably (compared to the other two) and this is more difficult to him (Hermione has been separated from here family a lot more than Ron) and he also have some insecurities to work through.
I don't think Harry is insecure about Ginny's affections for him, so the horcrux doesn't really lock into that. I think Harry lowkey expects to die the whole time, even if he doesn't understand he needs to yet. It's hard to torture a guy who is already so good at torturing himself.
We see when they test out the imperius curse that he's pretty good at resisting that. I think it would be pretty similar to the locket, that he'd kind of shut it out, but again when the Big Evil Man is trying to kill you and you've had to break up with the love of your life to protect her, you've got no (blood) family left that cares about you, it's kind of difficult to make that worse?
He totally still cares about Ginny at that point but he doesn't desire to be with her (because that's his choice) so it's kind of difficult to use that against him. You can't dangle a carrot in front of a donkey with a massive tooth ache, you know
Does anyone else ever think about the fact that, by book 5, Harry's worst memory is no longer the half-comforting sound of his parents dying for him. Like he has no way to hear their voices ever again. The dementors don't draw them up anymore.
It’s always funny to me, the blood purity debate. Going by what we know…
Firstly, the author has stated in various times that the mixing of magical blood with muggles does not produce a higher incidence of squibs, and that squibs are accidental, with some of these statements being ’in universe’, so to speak, as if from history books. We see evidence otherwise, including the story of the wizard Thaddeus Thurkell who had seven sons who were all squibs.
(More recently we also see the Page family who were a muggle and a witch couple whose three children only have one magical child among them, as well as the Merriweather family who had one squib child and another magical one, and the magical child went on to have a squib child too. But those one could potentially argue away since they’re not created by the original author in the series, as some do)
We also have the author stating that muggleborns are the result of magical ancestry through squibs, even though it hasn’t been proven in-universe. Unlike the previous statement and in line with the incidence of squibs in single families, this indicates that magic is a hereditary trait although can go dormant for generations until just the right match happens.
Additionally, we also have the author stating that Vernon Dursley is so strongly muggle that even his son still wouldn’t be able to have magical children. This goes against the first statement above, and very directly. If a person can be so strongly anti-magical, then it follows that magical folk who try to have children with this sort of muggles would always have squib children. Therefore, it is simply false that marrying muggles does not affect getting squib children.
The evidence is clear, it all points to magic being a hereditary trait (with some accidents of birth possible in fully magical families), and there are also genes that are so strongly anti-magical that they overcome any magic given by the other parent. Once again I come to the conclusion that blood purists have the facts more fully down than Dumbledore, disregarding any extremist propaganda during the Second Wizarding War, even if their emotional reactions to it put off some other people.
….yeah. It just amazes me how people still continue to be confused about this.
